House approves bill making gun list secret LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas House has approved a proposal to make secret the list of about 130,000 residents to carry concealed weapons. Lawmakers voted 84-3 on Tuesday to approve the measure to exempt the concealed carry permit list from Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act. Arkansas media organizations had opposed the change, arguing that it would undermine a 2009 compromise lawmakers approved to restrict access for some - but not ...

House approves redo of lethal injection law LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Legislature has approved a rewrite of the state's lethal injection law after it was thrown out by the state Supreme Court last year. House lawmakers on Tuesday voted 89-1 in favor of the measure, which spells out in greater detail the procedures the state must follow in carrying out executions. The bill that the state must use a lethal dose of a barbiturate but leaves it up to the Department of Correction ...

Panel approves 2 bills limiting abortion LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A House committee has approved a pair of bills that would restrict most abortions in Arkansas. One would ban most abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy and another would ban them at 20 weeks. The 12-week ban passed the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Tuesday after previously falling short of the votes needed to move on. The proposed ban is based on when a fetal heartbeat can be detected by abdominal ultraso...

Gov. Beebe signs anti-human trafficking bill LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Gov. Mike Beebe has signed legislation that toughens the state's anti-human trafficking law. The new law offers protections for victims, including a right to sue their abductors. The law also creates new penalties for anyone who knowingly patronizes a prostitute who is a human trafficking victim. Also under the law, the attorney general will now be allowed to create a task force to suggest other ways to address human t...

Panel tries again with 12-week abortion ban LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A proposal to ban most abortions in Arkansas 12 weeks into a pregnancy is coming back before a House panel days after it fell short of the votes needed to pass. The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Tuesday planned to consider the revised version of the proposed abortion ban. The panel is also expected to vote on a revised version of a separate measure that would ban most abortions at 20 weeks. The pa...

AG rejects medical marijuana ballot measure LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has rejected the wording of a revised ballot measure that would legalize medical marijuana. McDaniel on Tuesday rejected the wording of the proposed initiated act by Arkansans for Compassionate Care, a group that campaigned for a similar medical marijuana initiative that voters rejected last year. The proposal would allow patients with qualifying conditions to purchase marijuan...

House panel approves 2 abortion bans LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A House panel advanced two measures Tuesday that would ban most abortions in Arkansas, overcoming complaints from Democrats about how one of the restrictions was initially approved by the committee. The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee approved by an 11-5 vote legislation that would ban most abortions at 12 weeks into a pregnancy. The panel earlier approved another bill that would ban most abortions at ...

Bill proposes raises for judges, prosecutors LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee has proposed reinstating a 2 percent pay raise for Arkansas judges and prosecutors that the Legislature had rejected earlier this year. Democratic Sen. Larry Teague of Nashville on Tuesday proposed giving the state's judges and prosecutors a cost-of-living raise. The 2 percent raise had been in an initial version of the General Appropriation Act, but lawmakers took the pay ...

Senate OKs electronic proof of insurance LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Arkansas Senate has approved legislation allowing drivers to display their proof of insurance using cellphones and other electronic devices. The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill that would allow drivers to show their proof of insurance cards on paper or electronically. The measure would allow drivers to present the electronic proof when registering vehicles and during traffic stops. Several other state...

Ex-VP Gore criticizes climate change news coverage LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Former Vice President Al Gore says the American media and outsize effect of corporate money in politics are partially to blame for inaction on global climate change. In wide-ranging remarks during an appearance Monday evening at the Clinton Presidential Library, Gore said journalists should have done a better job questioning the 2012 presidential candidates about climate change. He railed against what he called the cor...

McElroy blames speech on medical condition LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas lawmaker is blaming an incoherent speech he delivered on the House floor on a non-life threatening medical condition he was diagnosed with over the weekend. Democratic Rep. Mark McElroy of Tillar said in a statement issued by the House Monday that he was treated and released by physicians over the weekend for an unspecified condition after delivering a rambling, incoherent speech on the House floor Friday m...

Senate passes 20-week abortion ban LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A proposal to ban most abortions in Arkansas after 20 weeks into pregnancy moved closer to the governor's desk Monday after winning Senate support, despite complaints the move would force mothers to deliver babies with fatal conditions. The Senate approved the ban by a 25-7 vote, sending the proposal back to the House to consider an amendment adding exemptions for rape and incest. The measure already included exemption...

Amendment on spending cap fails in House LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An amendment to a bill that would cap the rate of growth in spending in state government has failed to pass the Arkansas House. The measure by Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs failed to capture the majority on a 49-42 vote. The amendment specifies that the cap applies to spending from net annual revenue and not gross revenue. Westerman says he'll try again and bring the amendment before a House committee ...

Veto fights may loom between Beebe, lawmakers LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe isn't shy about saying when he thinks lawmakers are advancing bad bills. He's called a proposal to cap the state's spending growth "awful," a ban on most abortions in Arkansas "patently unconstitutional" and has questioned the need for a new voter ID law. With Republicans controlling the state Legislature for the first time in 138 years, Beebe faces his toughest test yet. A veteran legislator a...

Cotton meets constituents in ClarksvilleCLARKSVILLE — If there is anything new coming out of our nation’s Capitol nowadays, it is definitely not a discussion about real answers to big problems specific to Arkansans. For those who feel better hearing governmental information in person, U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Dardanelle, provided them an opportunity to listen and ask questions Saturday during a town hall meeting at the Johnson County Courthouse on West Main Street. Cotton provided se...

Analysis: Medicaid taking a back seat on agenda LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - What happened to the Medicaid session? Despite all the talk before lawmakers gathered at the Arkansas Capitol that Medicaid's finances and future would overshadow just about every other issue, there's been scant attention paid to the $5 billion program and efforts to expand it under the federal health care law. Medicaid is instead taking a backseat to a growing number of conservative causes - new abortion restrictions,...

Gun ban would protect more than 2,200 firearms WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress’ latest crack at a new assault weapons ban would protect more than 2,200 specific firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle that is nearly identical to one of the guns used in the bloodiest shootout in FBI history. One model of that firearm, the Ruger .223 caliber Mini-14, is on the proposed list to be banned, while a different model of the same gun is on a list of exempted firearms in legislation the Senate is cons...

Budget cut warnings may prove harsher than reality WASHINGTON (AP) — Get ready for two weeks of intensifying warnings about how crucial, popular government services are about to wither. Many of the threats could come true. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans made no progress this past week in heading off $85 billion in budget-wide cuts that automatically start taking effect March 1. Lacking a bipartisan deal to avoid them and hoping to heap blame and pressure on GOP lawmakers,...

States’ choices set up national health experiment WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul is unfolding as a national experiment with American consumers as the guinea pigs: Who will do a better job getting uninsured people covered, the states or the feds? The nation is about evenly split between states that decided by Friday’s deadline they want a say in running new insurance markets and states that are defaulting to federal control because they don’t want to participat...

New report questions FAA’s airline safety promise WASHINGTON (AP) — Since a deadly airline crash in 2009, the government hasn’t kept its promise to ensure that major airlines are holding their smaller partners to the same safety standards, a federal watchdog says. The Transportation Department’s inspector general faults the Federal Aviation Administration for not taking steps to encourage the big airlines “to consistently share safety information and best practices” with regional airlines tha...